British Open 2026: People told Jackson Suber to change his grip. He never did. Now he’s in contention at Royal Birkdale

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SOUTHPORT, England — Jackson Suber had never been to Europe before arriving to play the 2026 British Open. Now he’s deep in contention through 36 holes at Royal Birkdale.

Suber took almost now time to learn the nuances of links golf. His approach this week has been a simple one. Remember that there are more similarities than differences. Well, except for the pot bunkers. You want to avoid those.

“I knew the ball was going to be the same size, so that’s always nice,” he says. “Just knowing that I’m going to hit a 4-iron 280, 290, and thinking about that runout and staying out of the pot bunkers. But that’s where I feel the biggest challenge is.”

Suber’s been on a slow, steady ascent through golf in recent years. But the most interesting thing about his golf swing is his grip.

Our own Chris Powers shared that Brandel Chamblee called it the “strongest grip I’ve ever seen from someone playing high level golf.”

There are a few contenders for that crown, but nevertheless: His grip is really strong—which, for those who don’t know, means his hands are turned away from the target.

So how did he make it work?

Placing your hands to the side of the grip makes the clubface more likely to close. So, like most junior golfers, he grew up slinging hard right-to-left draws.

“Up until maybe my sophomore, junior year in college, I moved the ball a lot right to left,” he said. “My grip has just kind of always been like that. I guess that’s the way my hands kind of naturally hang and set on the club. I’ve had a few people tell me I need to change it.”

But he never did.

Instead, Suber found a coach who would help him perfect it: Troy Denton, longtime coach to PGA Tour players Will Zalatoris, Ryan Moore and others. Suber said the issue was that his swing path was too far in-to-out, which was creating too severe a draw shape. It’s the same issue that plagued Rory McIlroy in the lead up to the tournament.

“Troy got me to a spot where I feel like I can control the face and pivot through it and know that I can turn and the ball’s not going to go that far left,” he said. “I feel like my path is a lot more zeroed. I’m hitting more of a shot that falls to the left, kind of not really a sweeping draw.”

By getting his club and arms more in front of him, Suber found he could rotate his body aggressively left, which prevents the clubface from flipping and sending the ball left.

It turned his draw more controllable, and his ball striking stats prove it.

According to ShotLink data from this season, Suber is one of just 35 players to average a draw as his stock shot off the tee. He averages a 15.2 yard draw off the tee, which is very modest for his sneaky long 294 yard, 178 mph ball speed average.

He never changed his grip, and never needed to. He learned to make it work, and now he’s in contention at the weekend of the 2026 Open Championship.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com